The kitchen frightens many Men, but Guy argues that there are huge benefits for men who take a step and get cooking.

I am so thankful to my mum that she made sure I was capable in the kitchen before I left home to go to University (College).

For my dad, and his dad and so on – women did the cooking and men were not even taught how to boil an egg, let alone cook a meal.

The first benefit I reaped was that it made me a pretty attractive male flatmate at Uni. I can remember in the University Halls at the end of my first year, showing the other guys (and some girls) how to drain a pot full of peas without a colander or sieve. It wasn’t quite enough to land me a spot with the ‘in’ crowd, but I never starved. For full disclosure, there was one small kitchen fire, but it wasn’t my fault – even the coroner said so (I’m kidding!!).

Today, that confidence I gained in the kitchen has reaped other benefits.

While I’ll never be a chef or a candidate for a TV cooking show, I can successfully cook for any numbers between 1 and 150.

The area where you will gain the most from stepping up to the (hot) plate, is from your wife. Now Real Men are always looking for ways to bless their wives – and the kitchen is a real winner for this. It is also one of the easiest. I’m talking about cooking for 2 for your date night in. This is unbelievably easy and your wife will have her love tank filled up knowing you have done this for her.

How do you do this then? I’m going to do a video on it, but in the meantime the steps are basically like this:

1. Find out what she likes that is easy to cook.

If you can use the BBQ, even better. For some reason, most men aren’t afraid of the BBQ. For my wife and I, we both love steak. Big steak! For that extra special meal, I like to go to the market or favourite butcher and get two large (I mean big 400g monster) rid-eye or T-bone beef steaks. The great thing about the butcher is that they will gladly help you choose (after all, it’s your money). Ask them for their recommendations. They will even give you cooking tips. Just remember not to cook a big steak too quickly. If you are unsure about cooking steaks, you will find plenty of good advice on other sites about this.

Monster Rib-eye for two doesn’t need sides

2. Work out your sides.

If the steak is big, you might only need a salad. If you have trouble getting your head around a salad, try buying a ready made salad from the deli. Otherwise, bagged lettuce mix, tomatoes, cucumber, perhaps some egg will even be OK. Don’t forget the mayonnaise.

3. Add a third colour.

With steak and salad you have green and blackish brownie red. Chop some carrot into sticks or add some crusty bread from the bakery and you have it made. Colour is important to the presentation. Three colours always works well and yet is still simple to do.

4. The secret sauce.

The bonus that might seem a little hard at first, but really isn’t – is the steak sauce. Buy a ready made or grab a simple recipe from the web, and you will make your steak sing her tune. If this seems like a bridge too far, don’t worry, leave it until next time.

5. The ‘feminine’ touch

Lastly, add a rose and her favourite drink in two nice glasses and you will almost have a home run on your hands.

6. The irresistable bonus

But what really hits the ball out of the park is a short letter or card just saying how special she is. Your words, from your heart. It will melt hers.

There you go. Men who can cook for their wife completing these 6 steps will reap the rewards. I promise!

It doesn’t need to stop there though, over time your confidence will build and you might even begin to enjoy it.

Other possibilities might include:

⊕ You can begin to help out with regular meals and thereby spend a bit extra special time with her talking in the kitchen

⊕ You can graduate to cooking meals for the family (I cook dinner once per week and the kids all look forward to it)

⊕ You may even be able to serve others. This might include helping cook on camps, retreats or other functions

⊕ It also builds an appetite in your sons to learn to cook. Even if you will never enjoy it yourself, dad in the kitchen is an important signal to sons that it isn’t just for women.

⊕ You will find ways to save heaps of money. If I buy two monster steaks, it will cost me less than $20 for both. Two similar sized steak at a restaurant will cost you $75.

There it is.

Please send in your photos and experiences of cooking. Post them in the comments section below. I’d love to hear what men are doing in the kitchen and it will really help other men as well.